Operation Moshtarak: killer of five British soldiers was 'within a whisker' of arrest

An Afghan policeman who killed five British soldiers was "within a whisker"
of being arrested by the SAS hours before the major assault of Operation
Moshtarak began.

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The five five British troops killed by an Afghan policeman: (top row, from left) Warrant Officer Darren Chant, Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith and Sergeant Matthew Telford (bottom row from left) Guardsman James Major and Corporal Steven BootePhoto: PA

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Troopers landed at night close to the compound and blew in a wall to get to the room where the suspect was stayingPhoto: EPA

By Thomas Harding in Naqilebad Kulay

7:00AM GMT 20 Feb 2010

The Daily Telegraph has learnt that special forces carried out a raid on an Afghan compound in an attempt to snatch the Afghan National Police officer who shot dead three soldiers from the Grenadier Guards and two Royal Military Police last November.

Although the man known as Gulbuddin managed to evade capture military intelligence believe that the "net is closing" in on the killer as there will soon be few places left to hide with coalition troops taking control over former Taliban strongholds.

For the first time it can be reported that the SAS raided a house in the northern Nad-e-Ali area after Gulbuddin's whereabouts became known. Troopers landed at night close to the compound and blew in a wall to get to the room where the suspect was staying.

But it is understood that he had fled with Taliban fighters before the raid and still remains at large.

"Prior to the main assault into the area it was known that this man would be in the vicinity because it had been a 'no go' area for Isaf forces for a long time," a defence source said. "However it appears he got out in time or guessed we were coming and escaped, at least for the time being." Another military source said with the 15,000 extra troops entering the central Helmand area the "net was closing in on" Gulbuddin.

"One of the reasons we went into this area is to find him," he said. "It would be a logical area for him to go to as this is where the Taliban held sway.

"However we are still actively searching for him and we will find him." It is understood that there still remains a substantial reward for anyone who gives information leading to Gulbuddin's arrest.

On November 3 last year the policeman entered a checkpoint in the central Nad-e-Ai area known as Blue 25 and opened fire with a PKM medium machine gun on British soldiers as they sat inside the secure compound having removed their body armour after a patrol.

If Gulbuddin is apprehended he is more likely to tried in an Afghan court rather than extradited to Britain, although an extradition request could still be made.

A soldier who was a friend of some of those killed said there were many in the Grenadier Guards who would "rather this character was dead".

"I would want him to see justice in a court but if he was positively identified and taken out then you could say it's an eye-for-an-eye." One of the soldiers killed was Sergeant Major Darren Chant who friends described as a "soldier through and through".

There is also bitterness among colleagues after the soldier's wife gave birth to a baby boy earlier this ear.

"That really grips me," said the soldier. "That lad is going to grow up knowing his father was a brilliant soldier but he's never coming back from Helmand.